Related papers: Emergent helicity in free-standing semiflexible, c…

We theoretically study the polarizability and the interactions of neutral complexes consisting of a semi-flexible polyelectrolyte adsorbed onto an oppositely charged spherical colloid. In the systems we studied, the bending energy of the…

Colloidal glasses form from hard spheres, nearly hard spheres, ellipsoids and platelets or their attractive variants have been studied in detail. Complementing and checking theoretical approaches and simulations, the many different types of…

In this thesis the formation and properties of a polymer gel on and at a surface are investigated. The gel under investigation is defined as a three-dimensional network of "phantom" macromolecules that form permanent links with one another…

In a number of experimental situations, single polymer molecules can be suspended in a vacuum. Here collisions between such molecules are considered. The limit of high collision velocity is investigated numerically for a variety of…

The depletion interaction mediated by non-adsorbing polymers promotes condensation and assembly of repulsive colloidal particles into diverse higher-order structures and materials. One example, with particularly rich emergent behaviors, is…

Semiflexible polymers in concentrated lyotropic solution are studied within a bead-spring model by molecular dynamics simulations, focusing on the emergence of a smectic A phase and its properties. We systematically vary the density of the…

Free electrons hopping on hyperbolic lattices embedded on a negatively curved space can foster (a) Dirac liquids, (b) Fermi liquids, and (c) flat bands, respectively characterized by a vanishing, constant, and divergent density of states…

We consider a general model of a heterogeneous polymer chain fluctuating in the proximity of an interface between two selective solvents. The heterogeneous character of the model comes from the fact that the monomer units interact with the…

We use a series of molecular dynamics simulations, and analytical theory, to demonstrate that a system of hard spheres confined to a narrow cylindrical channel exhibits a continuous phase transition from an isotropic fluid at low densities,…

Materials with non-trivial lattice geometries allow for the creation of exotic states of matter like topologically insulating states. Therefore searching for such materials is an important aspect of current research in solid-state physics.…

The contact of a hydrogel during the rotational shearing on glass surface in concentrated polymer solution was observed in situ. Dynamic contact patterns that rotate in-phase with the rotational shearing of the gel were observed for the…

Topological or deconfined phases of matter exhibit emergent gauge fields and quasiparticles that carry a corresponding gauge charge. In systems with an intrinsic conserved U(1) charge, such as all electronic systems where the Coulombic…

The generation of unidirectional motion has been a long-standing challenge in engineering of molecular motors. Here, a mechanism driving the rotation is presented based on electron current through helical orbitals on a $\pi$-bonded carbon…

The question how complex systems become more organized and efficient with time is open. Examples are, the formation of elementary particles from pure energy, the formation of atoms from particles, the formation of stars and galaxies, the…

We explore the effects arising due to the coupling of the center of mass and relative motion of two charged particles confined on an inhomogeneous helix with a locally modified radius. It is first proven that a separation of the center of…

We use a recently developed lattice model to study the percolation of particles of different sizes and shapes in the presence of a polymer matrix. The polymer is modeled as an infinitely long semiflexible chain. We study the effects of the…

Understanding how to produce forces using biomolecular building blocks is essential for the development of adaptive synthetic cells and living materials. Here we ask whether a dynamic polymer system can generate deformation forces in soft…

Letting free polymers diffuse from solution into a crosslinked polymer gel is often a crucial processing step in the synthesis of multiphase polymer-based gels, e.g., core-shell microgels. Here we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics…

The low-energy physics of (quasi)degenerate one-dimensional systems is typically understood as the particle-like dynamics of kinks between stable, ordered structures. Such dynamics, we show, becomes highly non-trivial when the ground states…

We study by simulation the physics of two colloidal particles in a cholesteric liquid crystal with tangential order parameter alignment at the particle surface. The effective force between the pair is attractive at short range and favors…